The invention relates to a motor vehicle camera system with an image capture unit and a drive device by means of which the image capture unit can be displaced from a standby position into at least one operating position, wherein the image capture unit is arranged in a mounting chamber of a motor vehicle and the mounting chamber has a movable closing element, wherein said closing element closes the mounting chamber if the image capture unit is in the standby position thereof, and opens the mounting chamber at least partially to the environment if the image capture unit is displaced into an operating position.
Such a motor vehicle camera system is known from DE 10 2006 023 103 A1.
The image capture unit in such motor vehicle camera systems is displaced from the standby position into an operating position, in order to also allow such outer regions of the motor vehicle to be captured by means of the image capture unit in the operating position, which would be unable to be captured by the image capture unit in the standby position, such as a blind spot below the motor vehicle rear end when reversing the motor vehicle, for example. However, unless the image capture unit in the motor vehicle camera system is displaced into the operating position, the image capture unit is in a standby position, in which it is arranged in a mounting chamber of the motor vehicle, and therefore the optical overall impression of the motor vehicle is not disrupted by an outwardly projecting image capture unit. The image capture unit can thus be displaced into a standby position, in which the mounting chamber is closed by the closing element. If the image capture unit is displaced into the operating position, the mounting chamber is at least partially open to the environment, thus allowing the outer region of the motor vehicle to be captured by means of the image capture unit.
A disadvantage of the known motor vehicle camera systems is that the image capture unit cannot be used in the standby position thereof.